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Aug 8, 2011

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — US Declaration of Independence.

Probably one of the greatest improvements to the nature of government and the relationship between it and the population occurred with the signing of the US Declaration of Independence and the writing of the Constitution. The concept of consensual government was made a reality. The old order was turned on its head, and rather than the state wielding unchallenged authority it was now only to have such powers as were allowed to it by the people.

In the years since then, the government has steadily gnawed away at the rights of the electorate, often in cases where exceptional circumstances were cited, with the acceptance of the people.

Judging by the latest Rasmussen poll the voters are beginning to understand that they have been seriously duded in this:

Fewer voters than ever feel the federal government has the consent of the governed.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 17% of Likely U.S. Voters think the federal government today has the consent of the governed. Sixty-nine percent (69%) believe the government does not have that consent. Fourteen percent (14%) are undecided.

The number of voters who feel the government has the consent of the governed - a foundational principle, contained in the Declaration of Independence - is down from 23% in early May and has fallen to its lowest level measured yet.

Perhaps it's no surprise voters feel this way since only eight percent (8%) believe the average member of Congress listens to his or her constituents more than to their party leaders. That, too, is the lowest level measured to date. Eighty-four percent (84%) think the average congressman listens to party leaders more than the voters they represent.

3 comments:

The consent of the "governed" looses a bit of its luster when the "governed" want the Marxist re-distribution of wealth.

The "governed" use their vote or consent, so they do not have to work, and they get tons of free stuff purchased for them from the money taken by force from those who do work.

This consent stuff is more of the bubble-headed dream world Jeffersonian thinking.

These days I am more of a Federalist. The Federalists set up the Republic so the bubble-headed would only control one portion of Congress (the House) and have no say at all in the Senate or electing the President.

Looking at a timeline of history there is almost a direct connection between the Constitutional Amendment allowing the direct election of Senators and the rise of the Marxist re-distributive State where politicians must pander to the mass of voters to keep their jobs.

I think Gary that these people may in fact be thinking more on the nanny state as personified by the war on lemonade stands rather than the wider issues. On economics I am reminded of what someone once said about, "I have seen the enemy and he is us."

Consent as implied back in those days, meant only to those things that the individual could legitimately consent to, in other words consent could not be granted to the government to steal. The citizen does not posses this right in the first place, therefore cannot grant it to the government.